Part 3 –
Bun was sharp. Sharper than most Demi-humans.
The darkness made it near impossible to make out the objects that flew between the legs of the horses. But every so often she’d catch a glimpse of a blue dagger. She counted 10 in total.
The blades sliced off the Demi-humans from the bounds attaching them to the horses. Their struggling bodies fell like old laundry, crumpled in heaps beneath countless hooves. The hands that tightly clutched onto the Demi-human meat-shields were severed from the forearm down.
The men were quick to notice his intentions and immediately dropped their shields as the cries of their pained comrades were ended abruptly, their heads also joining the Demi-humans beneath.
40 now remained out of the initial 150. Exrite’s question still went answered, and with a voice that the men had come to associate with death itself – he asked again.
“Whose idea was it to do this?”
The men stiffened as if his voice had frozen the very air. An impending sense of doom washed over them as only stared at the Demon in human skin, drawing their final, shallow breaths.
“Leader… leader. Where- where was he again?”
“Not in this group… ah… I mean…”
“S-someone. D-does anyone here know?”
“W-wasn’t he with the first group?”
“Like hell we’ll tell you, DEMON!” One broke through his fear and acted defiantly, drawing a primed crossbow. He hid himself well from Exrite’s line of sight at the rear end of the formation as he quickly lined up the shot and fired.
However – Exrite had seen faster. Even the tiniest insects of the Trial were nowhere near as slow as a measly crossbow bolt.
Bun was rendered speechless, her jaw left agape when she witnessed him catch the bolt with his metal arm. Behind him. He did not even look to acknowledge his attacker, as if they were nothing more than a pebble on the side of the road.
But this pebble was annoying. An irritation. One he had stepped on it with his bare feet. The thought of one throwing said pebble into a pond out of frustration came to mind as he crushed the bolt into hundreds of splinters.
And after turning to face his attacker’s direction, he pointed his metal arm towards them, his hand directly in front of the face of another unfortunate ‘pebble’ that had found itself in his way.
The ground cracked beneath Exrite’s feet as he rooted himself firmly. In that split second, she saw his eyes meet hers and then look briefly up at her ear. With less than a second to spare she immediately covered her ear and watched as a bullet half the size of his palm eviscerated 10 men in an instant.
A deafening explosion caused the surrounding men and their horses to stagger, as those within a few metres of him instantly lost their vision as blood trickled out their ears. A ‘slug’ round, as White called it, had taken out a line of 10 men.
But the bullet did not stop there. It reached hundreds of metres further, smashing through old oaks and pines like plywood before eventually felling one final tree. Birds surged into the night sky as felled trees thrust dust into the canopies.
The bodies of all 10 men slumped dead. Holes the size of their heads were formed in their chest cavities, instantly killing them as steam rose out of their wounds.
This was what White had painstakingly worked on with him for the past few days. An augmentation that ditched the need for a handgun or other forms of weapons, save for the sniper rifle and select exceptions. The ‘slug’ round was but one of the new functions of his Biomechanical arm.
A complementary function was the compression, storage, and release of built-up steam. The process of the Biomechanical arm required immense quantities of blood to fuel its functions. Super-heated steam was the by-product of these reactions and could be stored or expelled at will within his arm.
The slug itself was no more than his crystalised blood, condensed to an insane density that made it far heavier than it appeared. The destructive payload was a testament of its power.
Miraculously, the man before his hand was still alive. Only barely, however. His eyes had ruptured like crushed grapes, and his eardrums burst with a concoction of blood and bodily fluids. The skin on his face swelled to inhuman proportions, blistering redder than blood.
Exrite released a violent torrent of steam through hidden pores in his arms, instantly putting the man out of his misery. Once reduced to nothing but boiled muscle and bone, he turned to the remaining men and spoke.
“If you all value your lives, then you’ll do as I say. Get off and follow me back to your wagons.” He commanded as she walked into the small ditch where Bun and the enemy leader Marlk laid.
Bun herself did not know this was the leader until Exrite stood over them, his shadow cast over them like a looming storm.
“Good work Bun. Someone managed to get to him before I did.” He simply said, his voice ominous yet somehow gentle.
He knelt in front in front of her, his foot only millimetres from the man’s face.
“E-Exrite –” Bun’s voice betrayed her mid-speak, causing her lips to remain parted as she desperately tried to find her words.
She eventually surrendered. At the same moment her lips sealed, Exrite grasped the man but the hair and lifted his face towards his.
The man began to shamelessly bargain for his life.
“S-spare me! I-I I can grant you whatever you wish! Money!? Land!? Airships!? I-I’ll pay more than what they’re paying –! Hundreds! Hundreds more – ARGH!”
Exrite rose and pulled him up until his feet were no longer touching the ground. He was hoisted like a puppet, strung up only by his hair as he repressed the urge to cling onto the sole hand that held him.
Marlk was by no means a small man. He stood at nearly Exrite’s height and was built wider. His stature was larger than most men, and his armour only emphasised his bulking weight.
Yet Exrite strung him up like he was no more than a mere toy in the hands of a greater being.
He groaned in agony, his natural instincts to reach out for the hand that clutched his hair proved non-existent as fear corroded his fight or flight response. Marlk could only stare into the azure and crimson eyes of a man who stood echelons higher in might than he could ever fathom.
Bun slowly rose to her feet, awed by Exrite’s raw strength.
“Devil. A Demon. You are… not human. I-I can bargain! Please! On behalf of the Elders of Mankind –!”
Exrite dropped him before he could finish vomiting out his words. As his face collided with the soil, he grabbed him by the hair again and began to drag him across the ground like a sack of potatoes.
“Bun. Stay close.” He said, turning back to her with a small nod.
“Y-yes!” Bun nodded back and ran to his side.
“You – why-!? Why do you ignore –!?”
“Alright. Start following. Watch your step.” Exrite warned with a voice that shook the air. One by one, the men marched through the maze of fallen corpses and Demi-humans as they obeyed his command.
Silent prayers were lost within the cacophony of metal clanks. People whispered the names of family members back in Endo, others wishing they had never come in the first place, and very few lamenting their actions.
What remained were the petrified horses and mounds of Demi-humans, still mostly bound and attached to their shields by the skin of their backs. Those that were cut free earlier simply stare off into the distance, unable to think or react any longer, whilst a small handful began freeing their bound kin.
The two bundle of [Gears], which Exrite had come to call these groups as Simplexes, somehow merged into his left arm. It crackled open like the hungry maw of a beast, breathing scalding steam into the night air. The [Gears] were fitted in a layer-like configuration, stacked upon each other like a deck of cards. The teeth of the [Gears] in his arm spun at differing speeds, occasionally veering into a counter-spin.
There were enough [Gears] in his arm to create up to 2 [Blue Liquid Fire] simplexes and 3 [Blue Bullet] simplexes. In total there were approximately 15 [Gears] in his arm, and this was excluding 2 additional ones that permanently remained in his arm.
Exrite pointed his left hand into sky and fired a [Blue Bullet] directly from his palm. The spectacle left everyone speechless. The trailing orb exploded into a mesmerising display of light above the site where the Demi-humans resided, acting as a beacon for the others to come and rescue them.
Bun looked back at the Demi-humans with moist eyes, then stared at the following men with resounding contempt. Even with the combined rage of her race they would never resort to such a thing. Black – who was the very face of brutality – did not parade the bodies of children, women and the defenceless.
She just killed them. Although… that did not mean it was entirely out of her book of tactics. Especially now given that the true, despicable nature of their enemies was brought to light.
However – Black was smart. One reason why she refrained from such barbaric psychological tactics was because she did not want to depict the Demi-humans as monsters, but as actual fucking people…
People who wanted nothing more than to fight back for their right to live.
“Are you ok, Bun?” Exrite suddenly asked, snapping her wide awake.
His words confused her. Why would he ask such a question now of all times? In truth, Bun was not used to being asked… these kind of questions in the first place, so it took her by surprise.
“I… mm. I’m fine.” She softly spoke. “… Exrite, can I ask you something?”
“Don’t mind me. Ask away.”
“That power… were you always this strong?”
“No. Far from it. I’d be in a much better place if I was. We both know how much strength matters in our world.” He answered. “Funnily enough, you were probably stronger than me when we first met.”
“No way. You’re lying.”
“Hard to believe, right? You need to remember I was just a human. Even now.”
“Just…?” Bun wondered if that was true.
“Demon… you are no human. Why would you… take the side of these filth than ours if you were truly human…?” Marlk painfully gurgled. “A human like you… does not deserve such strength… if it cannot be used for the greater good!”
Exrite didn’t respond at all. Those words meant nothing to him.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
However –
“Greater good…?” Bun hissed, her hand instantly grasping at her handgun. “Killing us… torturing us… breeding us – like we’re animals is for the greater good!?”
Had it not been for Black’s order to keep him alive she would have killed him on the spot.
If only her bullet had connected with his skull earlier.
“Bun – if you kill him, I’ll take all the responsibility for it. So, don’t worry about any repercussions.” Exrite said, causing the man to sweat like a filthy pig. “But I think it’ll be better to see what Black has in store for him.”
“You won’t stop me?”
“No. I won’t stop you.”
She pointed the barrel of her gun at his face, the trigger just a hair from being pulled. If her heart beat any harder the pressure on her fingertip would be enough to set the gun off. The bloodlust was agonising. What was only seconds felt like hours on end as she fought to rein over her emotions.
In the end, she did the most logical thing.
“… ack. Dammit…”
Bun crackled as she sheathed the handgun by her hip. As much as she wished to pop his ugly face like a glorified watermelon, Exrite was right – Black would certainly make him pay for everything he’s… they’ve done.
“We were children. Trapped in a cage. Born in the dark. Knew nothing of the outside… and all that for the greater good…?” Bun hoarsely whispered. “What are we to you? Are we not… alive? Can we not feel and think? So why…?”
“Whether filth can think or not means nothing. Filth will be filth regardless.” Marlk spat. “And you – human it calls Exrite – do they not disgust you!? These – these things!? Do you not remember how we suffered at the hands of the Beastkin over 30,000 years ago –!?”
Exrite suddenly stopped. The men following gathered into a massive clump as those in the front staggered backwards, sensing imminent death.
“Why should I care? I’m not 30,000 years old to remember it, so why should it bother me? Neither are you. What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Y-You –!? To slander our race’s suffering –! You damn Demon –! Arrghhh!”
Exrite began walking, dragging him by the hair again like it was his leash.
“Did you suffer? Anyone you know suffered from this 30,000-year-old thing you’re talking about?”
“Humanity did… the Beastkin, the Demons – we were nearly driven into extinction!”
Bun looked up at Exrite when he didn’t respond immediately. His face remained unchanged, his emotions untouched and demeanour ever strong. It was not until later, when the view of countless wagons and cages sprawled before them, that he finally spoke.
“30,000 years later and look at where humanity is now. We’re the most predominant race, and the Beastkin you hate so much haven’t been around for the same amount of time. So – why are you all still fighting their ghosts? Are your ‘Elders’ really that petty to take it out on the Demi-humans?”
“P-petty!? Blasphemy… You – how can you not know of the Elders!? Heathen! I pray for the day of your judgement, you Demon.”
“Judgement does not exist in our world.” Exrite adamantly claimed. “But – that doesn’t mean it can’t. You’ll see soon enough.”
“… you – what are you –? A-Attack him! Y-you all! Start slaughtering the slaaaaaaves!”
Marlk commanded in a hoarse scream at the men ahead. His voice seemingly fell onto the deaf ears. Reluctance plagued them as they carried their arms low in surrender, as if possessed by a higher power.
In reality – they had completely lost all hope. They had seen how the Demi-humans had wiped out their forces. The blue explosion that wielded the power to annihilate an airship. Even their airships had seemingly surrendered as far back as before the invasion had begun.
Their eyes were dead. Hopeless. Clad in despair.
Exrite looked up. Bun followed his eyes but failed to see what he saw exactly. That was until a faint glimmer, like that of a star, caused her to realise what these men feared.
“White’s watching. Good thing you didn’t kill him.” Exrite said.
“Mm. Are they afraid they’ll be shot at?” Bun asked.
“That’s half the reason. Look who’s behind them.”
Bun eyes glazed over the men, eventually finding a woman in clad in yellow and a man who easily towered over the rest. If one didn’t know any better, they would assume that this man was their leader.
At a staggering 2 metres tall, with a physique that was like a moving mountain, and hoisting a blackened blade far larger than the length of his entire body over their shoulder – this could only be one man.
“Yellow? And the big guy?”
“He has a name too. It’s Khaos.”
“Ah. That’s right… Khaos. Frostbitten are built so differently. How do you even fight someone like that?”
“You don’t. Edged weapons end up getting stuck in his muscles. A hair too blunt and it’ll just bounce right off. Imagine a fist fight. Those guys have the right idea.”
“Uh-huh.” Bun trailed off in awe.
The two groups eventually merged and came to a complete standstill. The soldiers on horseback were dismounted and made to stand alongside the others ten metres away from the Demi-humans. Khaos herded them like a shepherd, moving his overwhelmingly large blade like it was no heavier than a twig.
One by one, Yellow quickly began tying them up with strands of Octanid thread. A man, scouring an opportunity to claim Yellow’s head, waited for the perfect time to strike as she approached with the thread in hand.
However – what this man failed to realise was that Yellow was an Otherworlder Demi-human. An extremely keen Demi-human. A weapon that knew bloodlust more than any living being. Bloodlust was easy for their kind to sense, and not to mention that she carried hundreds of years-worth of battle experience from the Colour Plane.
At the first whiff of his intentions – Yellow threw a single, unceremonious punch into the side of his head.
“Idiot.” She growled. The speed was instant. In fact, Bun did not even know what had happened. In one second the man’s head was there, and in the next, it was gone.
Exrite was the only one who was able to witness Yellow’s speed in all her glory.
The man’s head burst into a fine, red mist, exploding like a crushed pomegranate. Shards of fragmented skull immediately hailed upon one side of the 120 grouped men. The tiny fragments butchered the men into states that closely resembled the corpses of a bear attack; minced and shredded down to the bone.
Those unfortunate to live through the ordeal were left screaming at the top of their lungs, their faces butchered down to the muscles as lacerations and splinters minced them from the inside out with each thrash they made.
All 10 of Exrite’s floating daggers, appropriately named [Remote Daggers], swarmed through the men and finished off the injured with one fell swoop. As quickly as they arrived, they disappeared into the storage of his coat, which unbuttoned itself on its accord like a sentient piece of cloth.
90 remained now. To lose 30 in only a single attack reminded Marlk of his position once more. The audacity of him to even speak to Exrite returned to him like a surge of cold needles, freezing his blood till his face went pale.
“… forgive me. Forgive me. Forgive me.” He muttered in a crazed trance of despair.
“Khaos! How the hell did you end up sneaking up to them!?” Exrite exclaimed, wondering how a man of Khaos’ stature made it as close to them as he did. If they noticed sooner, they could have used the Demi-humans as a hostage against him.
“Dunno. I guess they thought I was another slaver or something. I could’ve fooled all the way till we reached the town if one of these bastards didn’t try to sell me a Demi-human.”
“They let you in that closely?”
“Hey, I’m just as shocked as you are. Must be an unspoken human on human trust pact that we aren’t aware of.” Khaos said.
“For the slavers most likely. No point in fighting each other when you both have a common enemy.” Exrite added.
“Don’t forget we had a guardian angel watching over us~!” Yellow cheerfully hummed, the blood smeared across her adorable face somehow amplified her aura of terror. “It must be embarrassing for you guys to lose like this. 10 airships? Really? I’m disappointed. At least put up a better fight.” She pouted.
“I’m going to guess that’s their leader?” Khaos motioned to the man in Exrite’s grasp with only the hilt of his blade. His voice dropped several pitches suddenly, his eyes narrowed with scrutiny. “… a man-turned monster. The creatures of the Trial were more civil than them. I don’t understand what drives someone to do this. Hey. Answer me, coward – for what reason did you string up children – children of all people on your shields?”
“Forgive me. Forgive me. Forgive me –!?”
“Is that all you have to say!?” Khaos roared, the sound of his voice managing to shred the grass around him.
Khaos’ virtues were ingrained into his very soul. Etched and interwoven like the mountainous muscles along his body. While not as resounding as Frosty’s moral compass, it was enough for him to consider their deplorable acts as irredeemable. No… as inconceivable.
While Exrite was exposed to the extreme cruelty of humanity, Khaos had never properly witnessed it firsthand. He had heard of how Enthile used them as test subjects for weaponry, much like how Exrite was – but even so – he had never actually imagined it.
That is why when he saw the bodies of the Demi-humans glued and macerated across their shields – he could not help but to wish for the absolute condemnation of their perpetrators.
To say that the deplorable acts of these men disgusted him was a gross understatement. Like Exrite – he wished to kill them all and leave nothing of them behind.
But what managed to hurt him the most was the degradation of another sapient, living thing. Demi-humans lived. They breathed. They thought. Had cultures. Laughed. Smiled… They were no different from them, and Khaos was unfortunately reminded of how Enthile had persecuted him and his sister for being Frostbitten.
The so-called leader continued to babel out his apologies, but they fell onto deaf ears. In due time Exrite released him and left him to silently grovel beneath their feet, near mentally broken at this point.
Khaos threw him aside with a powerful heave. He looked up at the invisible airships behind the 10 others and gave a firm nod.
Not a word left anyone’s lips, save for the shuddered remarks amongst the bound men, who knelt like sacrificial offerings to a cruel God. The chatters of prayers played like the chirps of crickets in the cold of the night as Bun stood there, baffled by how much the cruelty of these men had impacted these powerful individuals – who were not Demi-humans – almost as much herself.
She turned to Exrite, her mouth parting but never managing to form a single word. The man, amidst the melancholic mood, turned to the cage right beside him and simply stared at the Demi-humans within.
His expression remained unchanged no matter how long he looked. Bun found herself drawn to him, and without realising it, she had moved to his side wondering what went through his mind as he stared at the malnourished Demi-humans.
They were so beaten and thin that a single rock of the cage would end up snapping their brittle bones. Bun counted 12 inside of this cage, their ages ranging from as young as children to young adults. The stench was unbelievable… and disgustingly reminiscent of Bun’s life as a slave.
Never able to wash, defecate, or eat; only to exist for the sake of her masters. In the centre of them were two Demi-humans that Exrite watched in particular. A teen from what he could tell possessed eyes more devoid than the starless nights he had seen through Auga’s memories, and deeper than the oceans of the Trial.
He wasn’t afraid. He just didn’t move. Or rather… he had accepted his fate, perhaps long ago already. Beside him was a female Demi-human slightly older than him, who clutched at the boy whilst glaring at Exrite with whatever courage she was able to miraculously possess.
Judging by the guttural grunts and groans – they could not speak Ecloma any longer. Ecloma was learnt in birth and ingrained into the minds of Otherworlders; all granted by the powers of the Maiden of Wisdom.
Losing this ability was worse than losing the memory of one’s mother. It was inherent knowledge. A part of one’s being. Bun’s ear drooped as she sympathised with their years of torment.
Suddenly, her ear flung up when Exrite spoke.
“The world forsakes the weak. We don’t get to choose how we’re born, but neither are we allowed to change. Isn’t that unfair?”
“… mm.” Bun quietly whispered, her eyes glistening beneath the moonlight. “It is. It’s completely unfair… All because we’re Godless? A 30,000-year-old grudge? How we look…? Why did it mean that we had to be born inside of a cage?” Bun choked on her tears as she grasped onto the bars. “I was just… we were just kids. Is there really no place for us in this world? Exrite please tell me, what did we do to deserve this?”
“Nothing. None of you did anything wrong.”
“Then why… why are we treated like this? Was it so wrong to want to eat? To sleep? To see the sunlight? To just… live? If we exist to just suffer then what’s the point of existing in the first place?”
“I thought the same way for the longest time. I’m sure you’ve come to realise your answer, else you wouldn’t be here standing next to me.”
“… I do. But if had never been saved by Black then –!”
“Exactly.” Exrite placed his warm, right hand on her head. The ticking of his hand soothed her cries, and before long, the tears disappeared. “We’d be better off dead. I had the same train of thought, but like you, I realised there’s a lot more life can offer. It was worth struggling, but at the same time – I won’t blame anyone who chooses to yield. Not anymore… after what I’ve seen in there.”
His words felt half-directed to her. Exrite stared into the eyes of the young Demi-human man in the centre for an unknown amount of time as Bun silently grieved for all their suffering.
She didn’t know what Exrite himself had gone through. As much as she wished to ask, her instincts reminded her to never pry. But she was also curious as to why he felt so strongly towards the Demi-humans. Moreso than Khaos in a strange way.
So – she asked him, just as a black object began to fall from the skies above.
“Um… Exrite. The Demi-humans… I never really understood why you feel so strongly about us.”
“In a protective way or just empathic?”
“Both. Do you maybe see yourself in us?” She boldly asked, surprising Exrite enough to illicit a small smile.
“No. Not at all. If I did, then I’d probably take the reins over your war. Not that it was mine to begin with. The truth is – I can understand those eyes. But that’s half of it. For the Demi-humans… well, you guys kind of remind me of my younger sister.”
“You have a sister?”
“I hope I still do. She was… for lack of a better word, naive. More than me, believe it or not. She loved the Demi-humans more than anyone else, and always bothered me to try to help them in any way I could. Granted, I’ve never seen the extent of the Demi-human suffering in person like she did until much later but… ultimately, I really couldn’t do much. I was weak. Yet she still relied on me. What a dumb… stupid brat. Always thinking about others before herself.”
Exrite deeply sighed.
“I… also have someone. A father. I hope he’s still alive somewhere in Endo…” Bun slowly said, her head drooping down.
“Let’s hope for the best. For their sake. Stand straight, Bun. Wipe those tears away. They don’t look good on you.”
“Mn.” Bun nodded, clasping onto his hand. “I’ll remember that.”